Byron Dorgan: “Mr. President, 20,000 people a day are losing their jobs--20,000 people a day. We are going to shove a lot of money out…”

“Mr. President, 20,000 people a day are losing their jobs--20,000 people a day. We are going to shove a lot of money out the door of this Congress in support of economic recovery. The question is, Are we going to try to put people back to work? Will we put people back to work on America's factory floors making iron and steel and manufactured products? We already have a ``Buy American'' provision under current law. That is not violative of our trade agreements. We just added an amendment that says this section, the ``Buy American'' section, ``shall be applied in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international agreements.'' I don't think anyone can credibly argue that somehow this undermines our international agreements. But we do have a $700-billion-a-year trade deficit, and my hope would be that as we push this money out the door, we do it in support of American jobs.”